Skippy B. Coyote

I do feel like I really lucked out on it, since 2600s have been getting so overpriced on eBay these past few months. It's hard to find even a well used Vader on there for less than $50 nowadays, and I think I only lucked out on this one because I noticed it right away and picked it up only an hour and a half after it was listed for sale. The seller already packed it up and got it ready to ship out tomorrow, and I'll be really looking forward to it arriving in the mail on Wednesday or Thursday. I've been suffering some serious Atari withdrawal this past month!

I spent $25 + $10 shipping on eBay, for this particular Vader: http://www.ebay.com/itm/151823887744 I contacted the seller before buying and they assured me that it was in perfect working order and aside from a small scratch on the underside of the console it was 100% like new and free of any blemishes. Plus it came with a free copy of my favorite game and the manuals for a few games I already have and but didn't have the manuals for yet (Asteroids and Warlords)! I feel like I made out pretty well on this one.

To update this thread, tonight I went ahead and ordered a BLW kit to get the household toaster NES up and running again. I'll be sure to post my thoughts on the BLW and how well it works (or doesn't work) once it arrives and I've had some time to test it out. Arcade Works estimates that it should ship out within the next 10 days, so I'll be able to offer some first hand user feedback in two weeks or so. Thanks again for the suggestion Stardust! If the BLW works out then you will have saved me a lot of money and stress.

Well that didn't take long! Found just what I was looking for, so this thread can now be closed.

After a bit of saving up I'm in the market to replace my old Atari 2600 system that died on me last month, so I figured I'd check here before I resorted to hunting around for a reasonably priced system on eBay. I am looking to buy either a Light Sixer or Vader model Atari 2600 system with an original Atari brand power supply included. I don't need any games or joysticks, just the system and power supply. The only thing I ask is that the system be in excellent blemish free condition, with no nicks or scratches and—in the case of the Sixer—the bezel paint fully intact. I'm pretty OCD about only buying like new condition consoles, but if you have one you want to sell that you think is in the kind of condition that I'm looking for then feel free to either drop me a note in this thread or shoot a PM my way.

I know exactly how you feel. The number of times I got within 10 or even 5 thousand points of 100,000 in Centipede only to bomb out at the last minute are more than I'd like to remember. But if you really enjoy a game and keep playing it regularly then you will get better, whether you think you can or not. For the longest time the feat of breaking 100,000 in Centipede seemed about as impossible to me as holding the sun in the palm in my hand, but I just kept playing anyway. Not because I thought I could get a really high score if I practiced, but just because I enjoyed playing the game. I played to have fun and did my best to not worry about my score, then one day—without even realizing it had happened—I crossed the 100,000 barrier! Of course I got so excited that I completely lost my concentration and proceeded to lose all my remaining lives within a minute once I noticed what had happened, but that's just the way it goes I suppose lol That was a good year or so and these days I break 100,000 almost every game I play, and my high score is over 200,000; but I definitely remember what it felt like to try so hard over and over only to fail at the last second. I think the real trick is to just play the games you like playing and focus on the fun of playing them, because if you set lofty goals for yourself when playing and don't achieve them then it will only take away from the reason you're playing the game in the first place: Because it's fun. Just play the games you like to play, have fun, and try not to worry too much about your score. If you keep playing a game you like regularly then you're bound to improve from all the practice, and one day you'll find yourself having so much fun that you get that huge score without even realizing it.

Thanks for the advice, but the cost of good a soldering iron and solder combined with the price of a 4 switch woody with clean looking unblemished paint on the bezel (I have this OCD thing about only buying like new condition consoles) would be a lot more than a Vader or a even a Light Sixer. Maybe some day I'll pick up a soldering iron and learn to solder, but right now finances are just too tight for it. Thanks anyway though!

I own 129 different games for the 2600 and no duplicates. I don't consider myself a collector (just someone who likes playing games on the Atari 2600 wants to own all of the games on the 2600 that I personally find fun and enjoyable to play) so the only CIB games I have are Dark Chambers, Secret Quest, and Solaris; which were all purchased because I stumbled on NIB copies of them locally for cheaper than I could pick up the loose carts online. I have made sure to collect the instruction manuals for all the games in my library with complex controls, lots of game variations, or difficulty settings that I might forget and need to reference the manual for though.

For me it's always been a Vader with a Rev. 16 board. I've tried 4 switch woodies but I never liked the duller colors of the earlier board revisions used in them. Sadly my Vader broke down a month or two ago and it was the only 2600 system I owned at the time, so it's been a while since I played 2600 games on anything other than a Flashback 2. When funds allow my next daily driver is going to be either another Vader or a Light Sixer. I'm hesitant to buy anything other than a Vader with a Rev. 16 board because I like the bright vivid color output and the nice picture quality so much, but I've heard good things about Sixers (and my wife likes the aesthetics of them a lot more than the all black Vaders) so I might give one a whirl in the near future.

If you like turn based RPGs then you should consider Dungeon to be an absolute "must buy" game. It's a very unique title and you won't find any other game that captures the genre so well on the 2600. It's absolutely astonishing that a game like this can even exist on the 2600, and the randomized item locations and starting stats every time you play give it a whole lot of replay value. Any time I need an RPG fix and have half an hour to kill, this and Adventure have become my go-to games. If you can afford it, I'd also recommend shelling out the extra $5 for the Dungeon poster. The map will really come in handy the first few times you play and don't know your way around the dungeon levels yet (though there are still a lot of secret hidden rooms that aren't on the map that you'll just have to discover for yourself) and it makes a great bit of gaming memorabilia to frame and hang on your wall once you don't need to use it anymore.

They say that good things are worth waiting for, and this Tuesday or Wednesday I'm going to be learning that lesson for myself. It's done!

42. Adventure (Atari 2600) Adventure is a game that I never really got into very much until I watched my wife play it a few times and saw how much fun she was having, but once I tried it I was hooked. The first and second game modes are fun, but where this game really shines is in the third game mode that randomizes the location of every item in the game. Changing up the location of all of the items every game gives Adventure nearly limitless replay value on the third game mode, and it's a game I always go back and play through at least a few times every year. Right now our household is without a working Atari 2600 system, so I've been relying on the Atari Flashback 2 plug and play system to get my 2600 fixes. Luckily Adventure is one of the games included on it, and what a great game it is.

I like both Battlezone and Robot Tank on the 2600 quite a bit, and while they both have their shortcomings I think they're still very solid and enjoyable games. In the case of Robot Tank, the shortcoming is that if an enemy bullet is not in your field of view it can't hit you. While this does take away a bit of realism from the game, for me it also leads to a more relaxed and strategic gaming experience. That doesn't mean the game doesn't get challenging though, since the enemies will continually try their hardest to maneuver into your field of view to get off a shot; and the varying weather conditions often make it difficult to prevent them from doing so. Even with the knowledge that I can't be hit if the enemy or their bullet is outside of my field of view I've still never managed to rack up the the 60 kills necessary to earn the Cross of Excellence patch or the 72 needed for the Star of Honor patch, and I have spent a whole lot of time playing this game. As far as Battlezone goes, the fact that the enemy can shoot you from behind creates it's own set of issues. Randomized enemy spawn locations combined with your limited turning and maneuvering speed often leads to you getting killed simply because you couldn't turn fast enough to shoot an enemy before they shoot you. This makes Battlezone more reliant on luck than Robot Tank, but it also leads to a more frantic and fast paced arcade style experience when playing it. The variety of enemies in Battlezone also makes up for the lack of day/night cycles and weather conditions pretty nicely, giving the gameplay a distinctly different feel. Ultimately both games have their pros and cons, and if you find the ability to avoid enemy fire in Robot Tank by maneuvering the enemy tank or their shots out of your field of view to be a con then you'll probably enjoy Battlezone more. On the flip side, if you don't like the luck factor in Battlezone of having enemies that will sometimes spawn behind you and shoot you before you can turn and fire back then you'll probably have more fun playing Robot Tank instead. Personally, I like both games. Robot Tank is great when I want to play a longer and more strategically intensive game, and Battlezone is fun when I just have a few minutes to kill and want to get in a fast and frantic arcade style gaming session.

I already did a few months ago when the question of "Who is the weirdest AtariAge member?" came up in someone's status post, and I still have mixed feelings about that decision. On one hand it did lead to some inexplicably hilarious reading, but on the other it was a little disturbing and did make me feel genuinely sorry for the guy. Whatever happened to him had to have been some seriously bad juju.

I'd buy that for a dollar! I actually did pick this one up for a dollar at a local game store last year, and it ended up becoming one of my favorite Olympics style minigame complications on the 2600 (though I think California Games is still my favorite). The events are fun and intuitive to play, the graphics are good, and it's been a really enjoyable game all around.

If you're looking for a NES stick without microswitch contacts just get an NES Advantage. They're inexpensive and easy to find, and the membrane contacts in them are quiet, responsive, and durable.

Pitfall II: Lost Caverns is one of my favorite games on the 2600 and I've finished it a good half a dozen or so times, but never with a perfect score. The closest I've gotten was this attempt last month: It's never the bats or condors that trip me up, it's always that darned frog on the final ladder up!

After reading that whole thing, I feel like someone should have really taken their own advice there.

Woo hoo! I am thrilled to have helped contribute to getting one of my all time favorite Atari 2600 games into the 1000 minute club! ...Though I think it may have been my wife's play time at the very end of the week that pushed it over the 1,000 minute mark. lol In any case, party on Centipede! In related news, today was the misses and I's two year wedding anniversary and as a mutual gift to each other we both pitched in money on something very special (and very Centipede related) that should be arriving in the mail towards the end of the week. Depending on when it gets here we might just end up pushing the arcade version of Centipede over the 1,000 minute mark by Sunday.

Just an update to let everyone know that the Game Boy system and most of the pricer games have been moved to eBay. You can now find them available for "Buy It Now" sale on eBay at the same prices they are listed at here on AtariAge: http://www.ebay.com/sch/hanz0d0g/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from= If anyone wishes to make a trade offer for the system or any of the games on eBay I will still be happy to cancel the eBay listing and work out a trade deal with you.

I'll agree with this one too, and add that any Kirby game (other than Kirby's Pinball Land) should be a fun and frustration-free experience for anyone who plays them. The most challenging of the Kirby games is probably Kirby's Adventure on the NES, but even that one shouldn't result in disheartening levels of challenge. Frogger on the 2600 is another great one that my wife loves.

Doom (Game Boy Advance) Centipede (Atari 2600) Millipede (Atari 2600)